Frederick Steele was a career military officer in the United States Army, serving as a major general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Background
Frederick was born on January 14, 1819 at Delhi, Delaware County, New York, United States, the son of Nathaniel Steele, and a descendant of John Steele of Essex, England, who emigrated to Newtown (Cambridge), Massachussets, in 1631/32 and was later one of the founders of Hartford, Connecticut.
Career
Frederick was appointed a cadet at West Point, July 1, 1839, and upon his graduation, July 1, 1843, was commissioned second lieutenant in the 2nd Infantry, with which he served in the Mexican War, in action at Ocalaca, Contreras, Churubusco, Molino del Rey, and Chapultepec.
He was twice brevetted for gallant conduct (Contreras and Churubusco). Promoted first lieutenant on June 6, 1848, he served in California for the next five years, and from 1853 to 1861 in Minnesota, Nebraska, and Kansas.
He was promoted captain, 2nd Infantry, February 5, 1855, and on May 14, 1861, was appointed major in the 11th Infantry, one of the new regular regiments created by presidential proclamation and later confirmed by act of Congress. (Out of it, in later reorganizations, were formed the 16th and 20th Infantry of the present army; the present 11th Infantry has no connection with the older regiment so designated. )
During the first year of the Civil War Steele commanded a brigade at the battle of Wilson's Creek and in the other operations in Missouri. He was appointed colonel, 8th Iowa Infantry, September 23, 1861, and brigadier-general of volunteers, January 29, 1862. As a division commander in Curtis' Army of the Southwest he participated in the Arkansas campaign of 1862, and was appointed major-general of volunteers, November 29, 1862.
He commanded a division of the XIII Corps in the operations against Chickasaw Bluffs and Arkansas Post, and a division of the XV (Sherman's) Corps in the Vicksburg campaign. Immediately after the surrender of the city he was placed in command of the forces in Arkansas and charged with completing the conquest of that state.
This task he substantially accomplished within a few months, defeating or driving back the small Confederate forces which might have menaced the flank of the greater operations east of the Mississippi. The portion of the state remaining in Confederate hands was too remote to affect the course of the war in any respect. When Banks started on his Red River campaign, Steele was directed to assist by operating against the Confederate forces before him, which orders he carried out at a heavy cost in men and animals and without other result. In actual combat he was successful enough, but it was impracticable to maintain the long line of communications which was necessary.
The responsibility rests with the superiors who ordered the impossible, and not with Steele. He remained in charge in Arkansas through 1864, and then took part in Canby's campaign against Mobile, which ended with the capture of that city in April 1865.
Though a good division commander, Steele was never entrusted with a large command. The Army of Arkansas, though operating independently, never exceeded about fourteen thousand men. After the war he commanded the Department of the Columbia, in the northwest, until shortly before his death. He was not mustered out as major-general of volunteers until March 1, 1867, having meanwhile been promoted lieutenant-colonel in the regular army, August 26, 1863, and colonel, July 28, 1866.
While on leave at San Mateo, California, he was stricken with apoplexy, fell from the carriage in which he was driving, and died instantly.